<h4>Chapter 309: A Dinner</h4>


    "So, they’ve agreed to a dinner?" Mnie asked cautiously.


    Adam grinned and leaned forward to tap her nose with the pad of his finger."What? You think I wouldn’t be able to arrange that?"


    Mnie rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose, her expression somewhere between amusement and resignation. Of course she didn’t doubt him. Not really. Knowing everything she did now, if this guy suddenly imed he couldunch her into space with a homemade rocket, she’d probably just nod and ask what time.


    Adam Collins was like that. Impossible, frustrating, arrogant—and entirely capable of pulling off the unbelievable.


    She reached up without thinking, her fingers brushing the corner of his mouth, the lip ring cool against her skin. Her thumb lingered there a second longer before she pulled her hand back and sighed. "I can’t believe I have a sister."


    Adam caught her wrist and gently turned her hand over in his own, but his gaze stayed on her face. Something unreadable flickered behind his eyes. He tilted his head and nuzzled her cheek, distracted by the feeling of her skin and the familiar motion of her touching that one piece of jewellery like she always did. Was she ever going to stop being fascinated by that thing?


    "You don’t want a sister?" he asked slowly, voice low, watching her carefully now.Then, after a beat, he added teasingly, "Or is it that you don’t want Miss Melody for a sister?"


    Mnie sent him a look-dry, unreadable-then sighed and leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder.


    She stayed quiet for a while. Long enough that Adam began to think she wasn’t going to answer at all. Her fingers traced an idle line along the inside of his wrist as if her thoughts were off somewhere far away.


    Then, softly, almost like an afterthought, she said, "She likes you."


    Adam blinked. His brows lifted just a fraction, amused and skeptical. "What do you mean?"


    Mnie turned her face toward him and gave him a look that clearly said <i>don’t y dumb.</i>"Are you seriously going to pretend you haven’t noticed the starry eyes she gives you?" she asked, drawing out his full name like a pointed usation. "Adam Collins?"


    He tilted his head, watching her, trying to figure out whether she was annoyed or amused-or maybe a mix of both.


    "She practically levitates when she speaks of you," Mnie added. "It’s a little nauseating."


    He chuckled. "You’re imagining it."


    "No, I’m not. She hangs on your every word, doesn’t she? And I know you have enough self awareness to know that what her eyes mean?"


    She turned her face away then, eyes fixed on some spot in the room.


    Adam studied her in the silence that followed, his thumb brushing back and forth along her wrist. "And that bothers you?" Adam asked quietly.


    Mnie didn’t answer immediately but her jaw tensed and he had the answer to the question he’d asked even as she denied steadily,"No. It doesn’t."


    But the way her voice caught at the edges gave her away, and Adam grinned at her teasingly. "Just ept it—you’re jealous."


    Mnie shot him a re, sharp and immediate, but it only made his grin widen.Without a word, she punched him lightly on the arm, the kind of half-hearted jab that was more annoyance than actual anger, and stood up, brushing off invisible creases from her clothes like she was shaking him off too.


    She turned on her heel, ready to walk away with all the ir of a dramatic exit-but she didn’t get far.


    In the next moment, she felt his hands at her waist, firm and unyielding as they held her in ce. And that was exactly the problem.


    She squirmed slightly, trying to twist away. "Adam," she warned, trying to sound stern, but it came out breathy instead. She loved his hands on her and that was that.


    He didn’t say anything, just looked up at her with that maddening half-smile of his-the one that made it impossible to stay mad at him for long.


    "How am I supposed to walk away in a huff if you won’t let me go?" she muttered, exasperated.


    "I don’t want you to walk away," he said simply, hands still steady on her hips, before he pulled her back, straight onto hisp.


    This time, Mnie did not fall against him. She was prepared.


    Instead, she turned around slowly, deliberately, and straddled hisp, knees braced on either side of his thighs. Her skirt hitched slightly with the motion, but she didn’t care though he did, as his eyes traced the exposed skin hungrily while his handsnded on the edge of the skirt, even before she had settledpletely.


    She ced her hands on his shoulders and looked down at him with an unreadable look.


    "Melon-" he started, but the rest was cut off as she leaned forward without warning and kissed him.


    It was not an ordinary kiss and he knew it as he felt her mouth pushing agains this forcefully. This one had weight to it. Intent. Possession. The kiss was deep and searching, her mouth warm and urgent against his, as if she were trying to pour something unspoken into him all at once.


    Adam stiffened for a heartbeat-caught off guard. Then he responded, mouth parting, hands tightening on her thighs as he kissed her back, slower and controlled. But before he could take it further, she pulled back just enough to speak.


    "I’m jealous," she breathed, eyes fixed on his. "Very, very jealous. I don’t want anyone looking at you with that adoring gaze."


    Adam stared up at her, stunned- but also, clearly, amused. His lips curved upward, but there was something else behind the grin now-something darker. His pupils had dted just a little, and that flicker of fire behind his eyes made her stomach flip.


    She didn’t give him a chance to reply. She leaned down again and pressed her lips to the edge of his jaw, then dragged them slowly toward the corner of his neck, her breath warm against his skin. One hand slid into his hair as her mouth hovered there, just below his ear.


    "I want to put my mark on you.. so that everyone knows you are mine," she whispered.


    His fingers dug slightly into at that, and the grin he gave her now was entirely different. Less yful. More dangerous.


    "Mark me, huh?" he murmured, tilting his head to the side, baring his throat to her in a deliberate, unspoken dare. "Then go on. Mark me."


    He shifted underneath her, jerking his hips upward in a slow, suggestive motion that made her gasp softly as she realized the effect her words were having on him. Her hands clenched his shirt as a jolt of heat swept through her.


    The look he gave her was nothing short of feral now—grinning still, yes, but the fire in his eyes hadpletely taken over. It wasn’t teasing anymore.


    "Well?" he said, voice low and rough. "You said you were jealous. Prove it."


    Mnie leaned in again, slower this time, her lips brushing the skin of his throat. She let them linger there for a moment, and then she bit down gently on the spot before sucking hard and then licking him slowly.


    Adam inhaled sharply, not in pain, but in something that sounded too much like satisfaction. His grip on her tightened further, and one of his hands slid up her back to tangle in her hair.


    Mnie pulled back and looked at the faint reddened skin blooming beneath his corbone, and gave him a look that could only be discribes as proud.


    "There," she said. "Mine."


    Adam looked at her like he wanted to devour her whole.


    "Damn right," he muttered, dragging her close again, "I’m yours, Melon. And don’t you dare forget it."